A little over two weeks after the matchup came together, a
scintillating
Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight tilt is on ice.
At the end of July, the promotion booked Chris
Curtis (31-11, 1 NC) against Kevin
Holland (26-11, 1 NC) for the UFC 307
card on Oct. 5. Due to a foot injury revealed
by “The Action Man” on Wednesday, Curtis has been forced out of the
matchup. Curtis sustained the injury during sparring, fracturing
his foot and also suffering a Lisfranc injury where small ligaments
were torn or damaged. As a result, Curtis will be on the shelf for
a few months, and he hopes to return to action in December. The UFC
has not yet announced a replacement opponent for Holland.
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“I’m fine, guys,” Curtis wrote. “Bit of a fracture in my left foot, caught [Caio
Borralho] on the knee, at the very end of the last round of
sparring. The bigger problem is I have something called a Lisfranc
injury as well, which means I’m not even supposed to be walking
without crutches for the next four to five weeks, which sucks but
had it been any worse, it would have possibly been surgical. So
count your blessing there. Hopefully, I’ll be OK for December. If
not, I’ll see you all next year. Thanks for all the comments and
concerns.”
Curtis was looking to get back in the win column after a five-round
split decision loss to Brendan
Allen in April. Before that setback, the longtime veteran
outworked Marc-Andre
Barriault at the beginning of the year. With just two wins in
his last six outings—including a no contest against Nassourdine
Imavov in 2023 due to a clash of heads—Curtis was hoping to
turn things around after starting his UFC run with three straight
victories from 2021 to 2022.
“Trailblazer” returned to the middleweight division in June to snap
a two-fight skid and Michal
Oleksiejczuk’s arm as well. That put a pair of defeats to
Michael
Page and Jack
Della Maddalena behind him, albeit in a different weight class.
Thus far, the Texan has experienced greater success at 185 pounds
than welterweight, although he has spent more time in the higher
division. Of note, Holland has beaten names like Santiago
Ponzinibbio, Ronaldo
Souza and Joaquin
Buckley as he competed actively on the roster since debuting in
2018.
UFC 307, which still has no headliner, will play out inside of the
Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Oct. 5. It is expected but not
finalized that Raquel
Pennington will defend her 135-pound strap against Julianna
Pena, with that matchup not likely serving as the main
attraction. Other pairings on the card include a featherweight
scrap between Movsar
Evloev and Aljamain
Sterling along with a battle at 115 pounds as Marina
Rodriguez faces Iasmin
Lucindo.